Sunday, August 23, 2015

Slow Saturday Special: Holyoke Heists

Holyoke police are seeking the public’s help in apprehending two men who committed a violent robbery of a market and another man who robbed a bank this week.

The market robbery sent one person to a hospital after a pistol-whipping, and the bank robbery prompted a response from the State Police bomb squad, officials said.

In the first episode on Wednesday, two men burst into Aunties Market on Pleasant Street, pistol-whipped an employee, and “fired a round at [a customer] but missed him as that victim escaped from the store,” Holyoke police said in a statement.

The worker suffered cuts, bruises, and soreness and was taken to an area hospital, police said. The employee’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.

The robbers made off with an undetermined amount of cash from the safe and the register, police said.

Surveillance images of the suspects showed one man with a dark complexion who wore a black hooded sweatshirt, while the other man was light-skinned with his face partially obscured by a mask. He wore a yellow hooded sweatshirt and a red hat.

“DO NOT Attempt to approach these subjects if observed as they should be considered Armed and Dangerous,” police said in the statement.

In the second episode on Friday afternoon, another man robbed United Bank on Northampton Street while armed with a “hoax device” and a machete, police said.

The man fled the bank with an undetermined amount of cash, and the bomb squad assisted with the “device,” which was a deflated soccer ball in a pillow case, according to police.

“There were no injuries although the suspect carried a machete and struck a counter top inside the bank while threatening the staff,” police said in another statement. “A Holyoke Police K-9 tracked the suspect into a nearby neighborhood before losing the scent.”

A surveillance image of the bank robbery showed a white man wearing a black T-shirt, white ball cap, and sunglasses, holding up the machete as a teller grabbed hold of a red bag that he pushed forward with his other hand.

Anyone with information about either case is urged to call Holyoke police....The policy of this blog is to never post phone numbers of any kind.

The heists came approximately one month after another robbery suspect allegedly stabbed a Holyoke police dog, Jori, between the neck and shoulder blades during a pursuit. Police said at the time that the German shepherd was taken to VCA Boston Road Animal Hospital in Springfield and was expected to make a full recovery. Police arrested the robbery suspect.

Jori “was bleeding heavily” after the attack, Holyoke Police Lieutenant Isaias Cruz said last month. “Who knows if we would have been stabbed if he hadn’t gotten in the way?”

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